Mom of 3-year-old boy accidentally shot, killed in St. Louis home gets probation

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — The mother of a 3-year-old boy who was accidentally shot and killed in her north St. Louis County home was sentenced to five years of probation.

Semaj Porter was sentenced Wednesday for child endangerment in the December 2015 shooting of her son, Xavier “Zae” Robinson.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Porter was working when her son was accidentally shot by 15-year-old Kameron Harvey, of Hazelwood, a friend of the boy’s brother.

Prosecutors said Porter and the boy’s father, Shawmane Robinson, knew their older son and Harvey played with the gun the night before the shooting but didn’t take it away or make sure it wasn’t loaded.

Harvey was charged with manslaughter but was fatally shot in October 2017.